Our Team

Agents of amazing. Specialists in know-how.

Meet our group of savvy minds for all things retail.

Strategy. Shopping. Problem Solving. More shopping. Alyson brings together all of her passions as one of the core experts at Retail Concepts. A veteran marketer, she leverages her experience working at ad agencies such as Leo Burnett, marchFIRST and Hill, Holliday to manage marketing for our clients, as well as internal company operations and client relationships.

Alyson’s education includes many, many trips to the mall (aka research) as well as earning an MBA in Entrepreneurship & Marketing from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA in Communications & Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania. And her client experience ranges from large retailers Marshalls and Dunkin’ Donuts to start-ups Vicarious Communications, Aerospan, Covalex and several of her own ventures.

Alyson hasn’t met a shopping bag she doesn’t like. She also loves to talk shop. Literally.

Ani is our go to. Our go-to business development lead. Our go-to merchandising maven. And a go-to for industry and press contributions. Because Ani sees the right direction and goes for it. A passionate entrepreneur herself, Ani is a valuable resource for new concept incubation, solving merchandising challenges or for simply figuring out what ways Retail Concepts can best meet a client’s needs.

Ani has spent her career in merchandising and marketing at retail companies including TJX, Tommy Hilfiger, Macy’s Inc. and J. Jill and almost launched her own contemporary women’s brand in between. She received her BS in Psychology and Spanish from Trinity College in Hartford, CT, and holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Boston University.

If one day Ani chooses to channel her love of retail into one day opening her own clothing boutique, don’t be surprised. We won’t be.

Mike is responsible for all corporate consulting activities of Retail Concepts, weighing-in on assessments and planning. As the in-house strategy expert, he has spent his career immersed in the industry. So it’s no wonder when he isn’t problem solving for clients, he’s being quoted by some of our favorite media outlets.

Mike has served as an executive with Filene’s and Filene’s Basement and was the co-founder and COO of Gatepost, a specialty-clothing store that operated eleven stores in three states. These experiences allow him to understand the corporate side of merchandising, as well as what it takes as an independent retailer, to make things happen.

Mike graduated with a BA in economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and an MBA in Marketing from Boston University. He has served as a board member for the Boston Chapter of the American Marketing Association and also teaches the next generation of retailers at Bentley University.

The Retail Concepts network of know-how

From store design and architecture to web-development, graphic design and copyrighting, we also collaborate with all kinds of retail gurus to kick concepts into high gear.

(And if any of these titles sound like you, give us a shout. We’d love to discuss adding you to our network.)

We’d love to hear from you.

If anyone is considering help in the retail world, this is your team to call.

Michael Goldberg, Entrepreneur

Going forward in the world of retail without Retail Concepts as a guide would be like shooting the rapids blindfolded and without a paddle — likely to end up smashed on the rocks without ever seeing it coming.

Rick Lombardi, The Vin Bin

Sometimes, I think that a single encounter can change your life—and that first meeting with Retail Concepts was one of those encounters for me. From that day on, through the whole business planning process, they really helped me take this dream and make it a reality!